Lisa Bellear
{{Short description|Australian artist (1961–2006)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=May 2011}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Lisa Bellear
| image = Photo_of_Lisa_Bellear.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Publicity photo from The University of Queensland Press{{cite web|title=Author Lisa Bellear|url=http://www.uqp.uq.edu.au/Author.aspx/1235/Bellear,%20Lisa|website=The University of Queensland Press|accessdate=23 May 2017}}
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1961|5|2}}
| birth_place = Australia, Sydney
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2006|7|5|1961|5|2}}
| death_place = Melbourne, Victoria
| nationality = Australian
| education =
| field = Poetry, Photography
| training =
| movement =
| works =
| patrons =
| awards =
| spouse =
}}
Lisa (Marie) Bellear (2 May 1961 in Melbourne, Victoria – 5 July 2006 in Melbourne) was an Indigenous Australian poet, photographer, activist, spokeswoman, dramatist, comedian and broadcaster.{{cite web |title=An inspiring, dynamic warrior woman |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/an-inspiring-dynamic-warrior-woman-20060724-gdo0ul.html |publisher=Sydney Morning Herald |access-date=3 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241003143846/https://www.smh.com.au/national/an-inspiring-dynamic-warrior-woman-20060724-gdo0ul.html |archive-date=3 October 2024 |date=24 July 2006}} She was a Goenpul woman of the Noonuccal people of Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island), Queensland. Her uncles were Bob Bellear, Australia's first Indigenous judge, and Sol Bellear who helped to found the Aboriginal Housing Corporation in Redfern in 1972.
Bellear was adopted into a white family as a baby and was told she had Polynesian heritage.{{cite news|last=Winkler|first=Michael|title=Till many voices shake us|url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/06/1089000137670.html|publisher=The Age, 7 July 2004|location=Melbourne|date=7 July 2004}} As an adult she explored her Aboriginal roots.Roberta Sykes, 'The Stolen Generation', in American Book Review, vol.18 no.4 May–June 1997, pp 8-9.
Bellear died unexpectedly at her home in Melbourne. She was 45 years old. She was buried at Mullumbimby cemetery.
Published works and photography
Posthumous poetry collection Aboriginal Country, Ed. Jen Jewel Brown, UWA Publishing, 2018 was chosen as one of the books of the year by poet John Kinsella in Australian Book Review.
Bellear wrote Dreaming in Urban Areas (UQP, 1996), a book of poetry which explores the experience of Aboriginal people in contemporary society. She said in an interview with Roberta Sykes that her "poetry was not about putting down white society. It's about self-discovery."Roberta Sykes, op.cit.
Other poetry was published in journals and newspapers. She was awarded the Deadly Awards prize in 2006 for making an outstanding contribution to literature with the Ilbijerri Theatre Company performed play by Kylie Beling, John Harding and Gary Foley The Dirty Mile: A History of Indigenous Fitzroy (a suburb of Melbourne) based on her original concept; and her many published poems and performances of her writing as a poet, actor and comedian.{{Cite web |title=Lisa Bellear |url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A27331 |access-date=2025-03-22 |website=AustLit: Discover Australian Stories |publisher=The University of Queensland}}
Bellear was a prolific photographer.{{cite news|last1=Harmon|first1=Steph|title=Lisa Bellear captures decades of Indigenous Australian protests – in pictures|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/gallery/2016/jul/13/lisa-bellear-captures-decades-of-indigenous-australian-protests-in-pictures|website=The Guardian|date=13 July 2016 |publisher=Guardian Australia|accessdate=23 May 2017}} Her work was exhibited at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and at the Melbourne Museum as part of their millennium celebrations.[http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/news/news_items/vale_lisa_bellear "Vale Lisa Bellear"] {{webarchive|url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20090611203839/http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/news/news_items/vale_lisa_bellear |date=11 June 2009 }}
Community activities
Bellear was a broadcaster at the community radio station 3CR in Melbourne where she presented the show 'Not Another Koori Show' for over 20 years. She was a member of the 2003 Victorian Stolen Generations Taskforce, having herself been removed from her parents under this policy.{{Cite web|last=Birch|first=Tony|date=2021-03-16|title=Celebrating Warrior Women|url=https://indigenousx.com.au/celebrating-warrior-women/|access-date=2021-03-17|website=IndigenousX|language=en-AU}}{{Cite web|last=Dowse|first=Nicola|title=Warrior Woman Lane turned into a tribute to Lisa Bellear for NAIDOC week|url=https://www.timeout.com/melbourne/news/warrior-woman-lane-turned-into-a-tribute-to-lisa-bellear-for-naidoc-week-111020|access-date=2021-03-17|website=Time Out Melbourne|language=en-AU}}
She was also a founding member of the Ilbijerri Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Theatre Co-op, the longest-running Aboriginal theatre troupe in Australia. Ilbijerri produced The Dirty Mile in March 2006 as a dramatised walking trail through the streets of Fitzroy, Melbourne.
Bellear also contributed to the Brunswick Power Football Club and the Australian Labor Party.{{cite web |title=Lisa Bellear 1961-2006 |url=https://kooriweb.org/foley/heroes/biogs/lisa_bellear.html |website=kooriweb.org |access-date=3 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241003144245/https://kooriweb.org/foley/heroes/biogs/lisa_bellear.html |archive-date=3 October 2024}}
Recognition
- In 2008 Bellear was inducted posthumously to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.{{Cite web |date=2022-05-25 |title=Lisa Bellear |url=https://www.vic.gov.au/lisa-bellear |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=State Government of Victoria |language=en-au}}
- The City of Melbourne in partnership with the [https://www.vwt.org.au/women-in-the-life-of-the-city/ Victorian Women's Trust] recognised Bellear's life and work in 2018 in naming a laneway in Carlton, Warrior Woman Lane, after her.{{Cite news|title=The stories behind our street signs|date=2 November 2018|work=Herald Sun}}{{Cite web |title=Warrior Woman lane |url=https://www.warriorwomanlane.com/ |access-date=2023-06-02 |website=www.warriorwomanlane.com}}
- The University of Melbourne named student accommodation at 303 Royal Parade, Parkville, Melbourne as Lisa Bellear House.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2021-03-05|title=Lisa Bellear House|url=https://study.unimelb.edu.au/discover/accommodation/university-accommodation/lisa-bellear-house|access-date=2021-03-17|website=Study|language=en}}
- Victoria University offer the Lisa Bellear Indigenous Research Scholarship.{{Cite web |title=Lisa Bellear – Life Summary |url=https://ia.anu.edu.au/lifesummary/bellear-lisa-32123 |access-date=2025-03-22 |website=Indigenous Australia}}
- Bellear Gardens in the Canberra suburb of Franklin are named in her honour.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Library resources box|by=yes|viaf= 91495089 }}
{{Feminism}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellear, Lisa}}
Category:Australian Indigenous rights activists
Category:Australian women human rights activists
Category:Australian women photographers
Category:Australian women writers
Category:Indigenous Australian writers
Category:Australian Aboriginal artists
Category:Australian women artists
Category:Australian feminist writers
Category:Indigenous Australian feminists